The winter of 2011 sure packed a powerful punch. It seemed as though the country was walloped by one continuous snowstorm. Luckily, spring is here and trees are blossoming. The beauty of an orchard in bloom is something to celebrate and our country especially loves to do so when they are at their showy pink best. As a matter of fact, there are two dozen festivals across the country dedicated to celebrating the cherry blossom.

Here is a glimpse at three of the country’s biggest festivals.

San Francisco: The 2011 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival takes place over two weekends in April (April 9 -10 and 16-17), drawing 200,000 people to the city’s Japantown neighborhood. Attendees come to see martial arts demonstrations, watch Japanese cultural performances, and taste traditional and nontraditional Japanese delicacies. The festival culminates in the Grand Parade, which begins at City Hall and makes it way up Polk Street to Japantown. Highlights include the world renowned San Francisco Taiko Dojo, colorful floats, folk dancers and this year’s Queen with her court.

Macon, GA: Back in 1949, William A. Fickling Sr, a local realtor, was strolling though his backyard and became smitten with a tree filled with delicate flowers. After traveling to DC, he discovered that the tree in his backyard was a Yoshino Cherry Tree and he decided to start propagating his own samplings to share with Macon residents, in hopes of seeing more trees around town. Macon is now home to 300,000 flowering Yoshino cherry trees which make it the “Cherry Blossom Capital of the World.”

In celebration of its title, the International Cherry Blossom Festival was born. This year’s celebration takes place March 18-27, 2011 and features hundreds of events throughout the city, most of them free to the public. Highlights include concerts day and night, historic mansion tours and riding tours through some of the magnificently blooming neighborhoods. One of the more unusual events at this cherry blossom festival is the Bed Race. Teams create their bedmobiles and race through historic Downtown Macon in hopes of winning the coveted “Fastest Bed” trophy.

Washington DC: Our nation’s most famous cherry blossom festival takes place in its capital city. It all began with a gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington and has turned into one of our country’s most celebrated events. For over 75 years, DC has celebrated the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

This year’s festivities take place March 26 – April 10 and begins with a family day festival that features hands-on activities, interactive art exhibits and youth performances. There is also a parade, an art festival, lantern walks, music performances and much more. No visit to the National Cherry Blossom Festival is complete without a tour of the tidal basin, so be sure to rent a paddleboat and enjoy those breathtaking blooms.

If you can’t make it to one of these three festivals but would like to try to find one closer to your neck of the woods, check out this great list from the National Cherry Month website.

Sharlene Earnshaw is a lifelong California girl who loves nothing more than to hike, travel, write, and then travel some more. Her 3-year old boy/girl twins and loving husband provide all the inspiration she needs to plan one new adventure after another. She is a self proclaimed National Parks nerd and has made it her goal to see every single National Park with her children. She is a dedicated road tripper and spent last summer on a 24 day road trip across the Western US and Canada. Her favorite travel memory is being greeted by cheers at the top of Inspiration Point in Grand Teton after being told that her toddlers wouldn’t be able to do it. She graduated from University of California at Davis with a degree in Communications.